Dayanidhi Maran resigns from Union Cabinet

Union Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran, who was in the eye of a storm in the wake of the CBI's report to Supreme Court implicating him in the 2G spectrum scam, when he was the Telecom Minister, resigned from the Union Cabinet today. Maran met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after a Cabinet meeting and submitted his resignation.

Sun TV Network , which operates 20 television channels reaching 95 million households, saw its stock price plunge 6.62% to Rs 311 per share, while the SpiceJet stock fell 3.13% to Rs 30.95 per share on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The companies are run by his brother Kalanithi Maran.

Maran is said to have arm-twisted former Aircel owner C Sivasankaran into selling his stake to Maxis. Malayasia-based Maxis Group is alleged to have invested over Rs 600 crore in Sun TV in exchange for awarding 14 telecom licences to Aircel.

Yesterday, the CBI placed a status report on the 2G scam probe in the Supreme Court in which it alleged that Maran had "forced" Aircel owner to sell its stakes in favour of a Malayasian firm which was granted spectrum licence.

Later, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told reporters that Maran was present "like all of us were."

"There was no discussion about him or from his side," she said in reply to questions, adding that the press briefing was meant only to give out decisions taken at the cabinet meeting.

(With inputs from PTI)